


A Painted Sky

by GoodFoolofIllyria



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: I don’t want to spoil but don’t go into this expecting fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 10:04:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19827865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoodFoolofIllyria/pseuds/GoodFoolofIllyria
Summary: As Ash stood at the altar, he thought to himself that he had never expected to be able to find love. And yet, here he was.





	A Painted Sky

As Ash stood at the altar, he thought to himself that he had never expected to be able to find love. And yet, here he was. It was a small venue, only close friends and family, all lined up in orderly lines of chairs, smiling expectantly at him. Max was crying in the third row, which seemed typical by the way Jessica was only halfheartedly trying to get him to quiet down. There was the smell of flowers that had been placed in vases all around the room; tulips, lilies, in bright colors. Ash honestly couldn’t think of a single other day he had felt this happy in the entirety of his life. And then he saw him.

Eiji.

Walking down the aisle wearing a perfectly fitting suit and a smile that made Ash’s heart lurch out of his chest. Eiji’s eye’s caught his, and Ash understood instantly that he felt the same way. He felt tears start to leak out of his eyes, and he tried to avoid the embarrassment of crying on his wedding day in front of everyone. Which was stupid of course, he had spent years as a feared gang leader, and now he was crying in front of a crowd.

Finally, Eiji reached his side, and, standing there, Ash felt as if they were the only two people in the world. As if the world was just a beautiful blue sky and field and the two of them forever. The exchange of vows went simple enough, with all the promises of the future. They exchanged rings, and then were married.

Ash was sitting in a chair at the reception. The plate in front of him was piled high with food, but yet he found he couldn’t bring himself to eat, as to eat would be to draw his attention away from Eiji, something he didn’t want to do today at any cost. The room still smelled of the flowers from the wedding venue, although as Ash looked around, he realized he couldn’t see any of the flowers.

Hm, Ash thought, Now that I think about it, I can’t seem to remember how I got here. From the other end of the table, Shorter stood up, cutting off his thoughts.

“As the best man,” Shorter began, “I’ve decided to make a speech here in memoriam of dear Ash here’s bachelorhood, gone too soon.” The room erupted into laughter, and Ash and Eiji rolled their eyes. But underneath that joy, something felt off. Ash tried to think, the sounds of the reception droning out slowly as he dug deeper and deeper into his mind. What was wrong? He couldn’t tell for the life of him. If anything, everything seemed right. Everyone he loved was here, happy and safe. Eiji was here. Shorter was here. Max was here. Griffin was here. He kept thinking, not noticing the woman behind him until she tapped his shoulder. He looked up.

“Hello Aslan.”

Oh, right. His mother was also here.

“Hey Mom, sorry, I was zoning out, has Shorter shut up yet?”

She laughed. “Yes, Aslan, your friend has indeed shut up, although I will remind you that it was you who chose him as your best man.” She ruffled his hair. “Gosh, my son’s grown up so much, why I remember this one time when you were young ----------------------------------------------.”

“Mom! You know that’s an embarrassing story!”

His mother laughed again. “Well, I’ve got to go,” She said, and turned around. As she walked, that same feeling crept up again on him. Something about his mother had seemed off, but he couldn’t place it. Uneasily, he realized he couldn’t remember what her face looked like. He started to look around, and realized there was a good number of people whose faces... when Ash looked at their faces, it was as if his brain was processing them as faces, but no matter how hard he looked at them, he couldn’t discern any facial features. He turned to Shorter, and for the first time he noticed the blood seeping out of his chest.

Just like when he died, Ash thought. Wait, died, when did he die? Why do I remember that? When was that? Where am I?

And then Shorter wasn’t there anymore. As Ash looked around, he realized the room was now empty. He turned to the chair next to him. He turned to where Eiji was.

All that was left was a letter sitting on the chair.

And then there was no chair and no reception and no letter and Ash was standing alone in the dark that seemed to go on forever.

“Hello?” he asked, but there was no response. Then, in the distance, he saw a figure moving towards him. As it got closer, he realized it was his brother. His brother waved, and all of a sudden Ash started to sob. He fell to his knees and cried as his brother walked over to him. He dried his eyes.

“Where am I?” Ash asked.

Griffin shook his head. “I know just as well as you do. So the question is, where do you think you are?”

Ash thought for a second, then turned to look up at the beautifully painted sky. “I never left, did I?”

“No.”

“I never left, but I wasn’t scared for some reason. I can’t remember why I wasn’t scared.” And then just as he spoke he remembered why he hadn’t felt afraid.

He remembered Eiji’s words.

“Are you ready to leave?” Griff asked.

“I can’t go back, can I?”

“No.”

“Then I’m ready.”

And as the rest of the world disappeared, Ash found himself hoping that Eiji’s words were true. As everything faded into the darkness, Ash’s last thoughts were a repetition of those words, over and over again.

My soul is always with you.

The library was quiet. It was a normal day, as had been the next. A boy was sleeping at one of the tables. He seemed peaceful.

“Must be a nice dream.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was just a short idea I had that I thought might be interesting to write out. I’m probably going to come back and edit it some more at a later date. Thanks your reading, I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
